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Known as the Oscars of the food world, The James Beard Foundation Awards are given for excellence in cuisine, culinary writing, and culinary education in the US. To celebrate the awards ceremony and gala, Eli’s is serving up some limited edition cheesecakes (and we even have the honor of serving them at the James Beard Awards Gala!). Here’s how you can get a taste:

2. Visit our kiosk at the O’Hare Airport: On your way in and out of Chicago, stop by Eli’s Cafe in Terminal B, between gates B8 and B9 (next to the big dinosaur) to try our limited edition dessert.

3. Attend the James Beard Awards on May 1st: In partnership with the Illinois Office of Tourism, you can sample Eli’s at the James Beard Awards Gala in Chicago! To celebrate Eli’s being named a featured Illinois Made dessert, we’ve added apples (Abe Lincoln’s favorite) to our James Beard-inspired dessert and named it Honest Abe Apple Cheesecake. It’s made with Nielsen-Massey Vanilla and Koval Ginger Liqueur, two great Illinois companies, and wildflower honey produced by student bee keepers at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.

Today we were featured by the Illinois Office of Tourism in the Illinois Made Global Makers campaign, featuring Illinois-made products in marketing to overseas visitors. Eli’s has been proudly handmade in Chicago, Illinois, since 1980!

To celebrate, Executive Pastry Chef Laurel Boger created this 300 pound cheesecake which was displayed today at the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, and will be cut and served to attendees at the Illinois Governor’s Conference on tourism tomorrow.

It took 175 lbs. of cream cheese, 40 lbs. of sour cream, 50 lbs. of sugar, 130 eggs, 25 lbs. of cookie crust, 1 pound of Illinois made Nielsen-Massey Vanilla and 10 cups of wildflower honey produced by student bee keepers attending the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences to create this cheesy rendition of the Illinois State Capital. In a nod to Lincoln and his love of apples, the giant cheesecake included a layer of Cinnamon Apple Cheesecake and the cake’s base was decorated with super-sized edible gold dusted chocolate pennies.

Enjoy a “slice” of our Illinois Made Cheesecake! Eli’s Honest Abe Apple Cheesecake is available for sale on our website.Click here to order.

We were proud to be named one of the best restaurants in our Chicago neighborhood, Portage Park! Thank you TimeOut Chicago. We were honored to be chosen along with these other great Northwest side restaurants.

The best restaurants in Portage Park

“The factory behind all the cheesecakes you’ll see running amok in Chicago, Eli’s Cheesecake World has a deli next door with an insane amount of cheesecake. Sure, sure, you can get a sandwich, but personally, we’re sticking to the peanut butter chocolate cheesecake slice with only a few full cheesecakes to go, please.”

It’s been a big week for Eli’s Cheesecake around Chicago. On Sunday, we rolled out the red carpet and served dessert at the Gene Siskel Film Center for the “Hollywood on State” 2015 Oscar award viewing.

On Tuesday, we served Eli’s Cheesecake on election night, we celebrated the success of Leadbelly Burger’s mash-up fundraiser for the Sunshine Activity Center, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of life skills in persons with developmental disabilities.

Check awarded to the Sunshine Activity Center, a not-for-profit organization

Leadbelly Burgers created an Eli’s Cheesecake beignet made with Eli’s Cheesecake and Leadbelly’s fresh bread dough. Leadbelly Burger donated half of the proceeds from their beignet dessert sales to the Sunshine Activity Center and Eli’s Cheesecake matched their donation.

We also had the 94.7 WLS Radio Prize Patrol visit the Eli’s Cheesecake Bakery giving away CD’s, concert tickets, t-shirts, key chains and more. Then, it was off to election night to serve Eli’s Cheesecake while waiting for the results.

Wednesday night we celebrated The Chicago Help Initiative’s 15th anniversary of serving meals to those in need! Eli’s provided and served dinner and dessert by volunteers from The Eli’s Cheesecake Company.

Using our own recipes from our restaurant, we prepared the following menu:

Thursday night Eli’s Cheesecake and desserts will be served at the annual James Tyree Foundation benefit. The Foundation supports educational endeavors that foster creativity and innovation to improve the lives of people in the Chicagoland area.

Looking ahead to the weekend, we will be at the Love of Chocolate event on Saturday and the 2nd annual Eli’s and O’Briens Irish Cheesecake Bake-Off to benefit Mercy Home for Boys & Girls on Sunday, March 1st. Stay tuned for photos and updates. It may be freezing in Chicago, but we are warming hearts around “my kind of town”!

Last night, we celebrated the success of Leadbelly Burger’s mash-up fundraiser for the Sunshine Activity Center. Leadbelly Burgers created an Eli’s Cheesecake beignet made with Eli’s Cheesecake and Leadbelly’s fresh bread dough. Leadbelly Burger donated half of the proceeds from their beignet dessert sales to the Sunshine Activity Center and Eli’s Cheesecake matched their donation. The highlight of the evening was an impromptu performance of ‘60’s music by members of the Sunshine Activity Center. The Sunshine Activity Center is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of life skills in persons with developmental disabilities and accredited by CARF.

Check awarded to the Sunshine Activity Center, a not-for-profit organization

Eli’s President Marc Schulman, CHSAS Graduates and Scholarship Winners, Charlie Herrera and Alexandria Goins, with FFA Chapter Advisor Sheila Fowler and Eli’s Vice President, Jeff Anderson at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences FFA Banquet on May 1, 2013. At the FFA Banquet for the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences held on May 1st, 2013, Marc Schulman, President of the Eli’s Cheesecake Company and Jeff Anderson, Vice President of Purchasing and Operations, presented three scholarships for CHSAS Graduates.

The scholarships were awarded as follows:

Charles Herrara, President of the FFA Chapter at CHSAS, will be attending the College of Agriculture, Consumer & Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign majoring in Ag Economics. Herrara received the Aaron Easter Memorial Scholarship (given in memory of the son of University President Robert Easter and Cheryl Easter) for $2,500 and also the Eli M. Schulman & Robert Hatoff Memorial Scholarship (given in memory of the founder of Eli’s Cheesecake and his dearest friend, the late Robert Hatoff, the owner of Allen Brothers Meats) for $2,500.

Carly Trinley will be attending the College of Agriculture, Consumer & Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign majoring in Animal Science. Trinley received the Aaron Easter Memorial Scholarship (given in memory of the son of University President Robert Easter and Cheryl Easter) for $2,500.

Alexandria Goins will be attending Bradley University. Goins received the Eli M. Schulman & Robert Hatoff Memorial Scholarship (given in memory of the founder of Eli’s Cheesecake and his dearest friend, the late Robert Hatoff, the owner of Allen Brothers Meats) for $2,500.

The Eli’s Cheesecake Company is proud of its partnership with CHSAS over the years, and is glad to be able to support education and the future of Agriculture through these students.

We congratulate Maureen Schulman, Eli’s Cheesecake Publicist, on her photo of the Eli’s Inaugural 2013 Cake for being a commended photo in the Pink Lady Photographer of the Year Contest! This contest is a the global food photography awards celebrating all that is special and significant about food photography around the world. Thousands of images poured in from around the world to the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2013 Contest. Here are the commended photos http://www.pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com/2013/commended/ (scroll the horizontal bar under the photos).

Guests marvel and wait patiently for a slice of the 500 pound Eli's Cheesecake at President Barak Obama's Final Inaugural Staff Ball on Jan. 22, 2013

On Wednesday, January 23; Paperblog named Eli’s Cheesecake as one of the Top 5 Places to Satisfy your Sweet Tooth in Chicago. Paperblog goes on to call Eli’s Cheesecake a “little gem” and wouldn’t blame readers/visitors for “for springing for extra on these delicious wonders”. Other popular dessert shops in Chicago that were mentioned in the article included: Molly’s Cupcakes, Sweet Mandy B’s, Vanille Patisserie, and Margie’s Candies. Thanks for the picking us as your Top 5 in Chicago, Paperblog! Click here to see and read the rest of the article!

At Eli’s we love the holidays. Along with our associate pumpkin carving contest, this year we decided to get our fans and friends involved in the holiday spirit! Here at the Eli’s Cheesecake Company, our mascot, Eli Slice, doesn’t know what to be for Halloween! With Halloween right around the corner, he needs all the help he can get! Help Eli Slice out by commenting a costume suggestion starting today and you’ll be entered in a random raffle for an Eli’s Pumpkin Cheesecake! Suggestions will be accepted until Tuesday October 22, 2012 at 11:59 pm CT, and the winner will be announced Thursday October 24, 2012 at 9 am CT. Go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/elischeesecake to comment on the Slice photo for a chance to win.